The power of social media in one word is synergy. Creating new, greater value, from the sum of shared information value. (@alook_t) or in other words: it's leveraging the crowd to create something that wouldn't have been created by a single person or company (@PolkGulchHaiku)
By now, a large number of online marketers get what social media is about, but it’s still hard to provide a quick explanation of the power of social media to other people.
Last week, I sent out two tweets asking ”How do you explain Social Media and its power in 140 characters or less?” Some of the responses I received were:
- “social media is defined as "20 minutes into the future..." @ct1904
- “by restricting ourselves to 140 words we have actually time to reach out and meet many more people “@SmartDataCo
- “it's all about the conversation and speaking WITH not AT people” @PolkGulchHaiku
- “A fun way of globally connecting people and ideas” @carolw
In a recent survey I conducted with my Marketing Research project team at the University of Berkeley, we asked “what is the best definition for social media”. 61% of the respondents said Social Media is a two-way communication approach aimed at sharing information and creating discussion.
I asked “How do you describe social media power in one word?”
- “1 word is tricky: I keep thinking of compounds such as groupthink, crowdsourcing, ideavector”@hacool
- “Social Media in one word: Conversation” @PolkGulchHaiku
- “its like a KILLER…what i mean is highly effective / powerful / severe .... to bring up our thoughts, share”@saravananr
Synergy for businesses and their communities
This is what we like to call a “win win” situation. Every individual has their own set of needs and information. When forming into a group, individuals contribute to each other’s knowledge and build an even greater knowledge base.
Communities then gain enough power to challenge existing business services, products or policies. So the group has more knowledge and more power together than that of the sum of all individuals. Consequently, businesses have much more information and insights with the community, than they have without it. Finally, groups have more resources and influence with the business, than without it.
The power of social media for businesses and their communities in one word is synergy. Creating new, greater value, that was not there before.
